Bridging the gap between science and science policy for better health research A brief narrative ¡ ¡ ICTR-PHE 2012 jose.mariano.gago@cern.ch IRGC-International Risk Governance Council ECCO Policy Committee The Biomedical Alliance Core Group EC HLG for Health Research and Innovation 29 February 2012 IST – LIP – IP
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLICY HEALTH RESEARCH AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCIENCE POLICIES Synopsis Introduction The world of knowledge is changing rapidly Science Policy in Europe is at a turning point Health research as a driving force for the renewal of science policy Flashback 1 The true story of the creation of the European Research Council Flashback 2 Why we need a European Council for health research? Cancer, Physics & Medicine The 24 provocative questions on Cancer research by Harold Varmus Conclusions A Plea for Action
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLICY The world of knowledge is changing rapidly a larger fraction of humanity aspires to education and higher education is increasingly perceived as tomorrow’s general education in 2007: 151 M (+53% since 2000) students enrolled outside their country of origin: 0.5% in 1975, 3% in 2006 higher education has become an aspiration for all, and not exclusively for the social elites higher education is increasingly perceived as a social, economic and political driving force for progress in developing countries – providing a renewed constituency for scientific development, political democracy and justice, and for the quality of general education higher education is becoming an emerging political actor in part of the developing world science is increasingly global and increasingly perceived as linked to human, social and economic progress 2002 > 2007 5.7 > 7.1 M researchers (+25%) 780 > 1150 b US$ (+45%) 1.1 > 1.6 M publications (international cooperation: 8% in 1987, 20% in 2007) Where? Asia, Latin America, Africa major trends of change in science (policy) agendas: .Risk Governance (prevention, mitigation, response) is a new driver of science policies: natural disasters, ageing and chronic diseases, industrial and other major public risks, quality and availability of water and food, energy. . Data intensive science has spread from particle physics and astrophysics to the biological sciences. ICT and Science become closely interlinked (but: infrastructure, IPR, inequalities) . Science & Academic networking at world level: institutional networking for capacity building is becoming key; new patterns of institutional capacity building programmes are now added to the traditional fluxes of individual students.
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLICY HEALTH RESEARCH AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCIENCE POLICY Science Policy in Europe is at a turning point - as it needs to respond to the fast changes in knowledge production at world level - as it wishes to combine the response to societal challenges with increased innovation and industrial competitiveness - (and pursue increased attractiveness for talent in S&T, while reinforcing its science base – science education, infrastructure, …) Can the biomedical sciences provide a major driving force for the renewal of European Science Policies? Possibly yes: they have been able to develop a network of stakeholders as active (potential) participants of the research itself (researchers, clinicians, industry, patients) they have been successful in attracting contributions from other sciences and technologies (physics, engineering, social sciences) However - how can all these stakeholders act together as producers of knowledge, namely in advanced, educated, societies? - biomedical researchers, clinicians, patients and their families, industry have already been able to collaborate and to contribute to the progress of research – but how can they contribute systematically to the organised production of new knowledge? (eg, patients and researchers? clinicians and researchers?) (An old problem: vd Freeman Dyson, Amateurs and Scientists; modern involvement of users in software engineering development; new trends in architecture and design…So why do we have to address it now? Because: The constituency for scientific development is not static and requires renewed participation. Complex problems increasingly require the contribution of diverse competencies and expertise, including proximity and time. Increasingly educated societies make such expertise available, as well as sensors, the internet and the availability of online and distance access to authoritative reference sources of knowledge. Multiple layers of contributors to the fabric of scientific knowledge at large scale become possible, but require renewed forms of organisation and high level scientific steering)
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLICY HEALTH RESEARCH AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCIENCE POLICY Flashback 1 A true story of the creation of the European Research Council (2002-2006) EU Framework Programmes for R&D: initially - industrial competitiveness only Biomedical research: a case for juridical analysis Human resources (Marie Curie) in S&T become part of the EU FP for R&D New Treaties allow for the shared responsibilities of the EU and MS in R&D In 2002-2004: Promoting the funding of basic sciences via the EU FP Programme – a grassroots movement by the scientists in Europe First response: no DK support: a seminar – Do we need a European Research Council?- and sets a working group FEBS organises a first constituency of European scientific societies and other international bodies: EUA, EPS, EMBO, EMBL,… A turning point: A EU Council for the Biomedical Sciences or for All Sciences (including the Social Sciences and Humanities)? The generosity of the biomedical community leads to the creation of the ERC ISE- Initiative For Science in Europe founded (European Societies from all disciplines). ISE organises (successfully) the first European science policy campaign by scientists (aimed at the creation of the ERC) In 2005 (2006): European Council calls for the study of the creation of a EU organisation inspired by NSF EU research (competitiveness) Council and Parliament decide the creation of the ERC as a specific delivery mechanism of FP7 EC and MS refuse the creation of a new EU organisation ERC is created as an independent scientific council and given a budget of about 2 billion Euros/yr
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLICY HEALTH RESEARCH AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCIENCE POLICY Flashback 2 Do we need a European Council for Health Research? ECCO - Stockholm 2011 – first discussion on the need for a EU-CHR (Set 2011) ECCO announces its commitment to the creation of a ECHR (Dec 2011) together with the Alliance for Biomedical Research The HLG on Health Research & Innovation set by the EC calls for a European Strategic Action on Health Research and supports the views of the Biomedical Alliance (Jan 2012) The EU Danish Presidency takes note of the proposal for a ECHR (Feb 2012) The Alliance for Biomedical Research establishes a Core Group to prepare actions leading to the establishment of the ECHR The European Parliament invites the Biomedical Alliance Core Group to present its views in a special meeting with MP’s
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLICY HEALTH RESEARCH AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCIENCE POLICY Cancer, Physics&Medicine The 24 provocative questions on Cancer research by Harold Varmus (1-12) http://www.cancer.gov/ PQ1. How does obesity contribute to cancer risk? PQ2. What environmental factors change the risk of various cancers when people move from one geographic region to another? PQ3. Are there ways to objectively ascertain exposure to cancer risk using modern measurement technologies? PQ4. Why don't more people alter behaviors known to increase the risk of cancers? PQ5. Given the evidence that some drugs commonly and chronically used for other indications, such as an anti- inflammatory drug, can protect against cancer incidence and mortality, can we determine the mechanism by which any of these drugs work? PQ6. What are the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which patients with certain chronic diseases have increased or decreased risks for developing cancer, and can these connections be exploited to develop novel preventive or therapeutic strategies? PQ7. How does the life span of an organism affect the molecular mechanisms of cancer development and can we use our deepening knowledge of aging to enhance prevention or treatment of cancer? PQ8. Why do certain mutational events promote cancer phenotypes in some tissues and not in others? PQ9. As genomic sequencing methods continue to identify large numbers of novel cancer mutations, how can we identify the mutations in a given tumor that are most critical to the maintenance of its oncogenic phenotype? PQ10. As we improve methods to identify epigenetic changes that occur during tumor development, can we develop approaches to discriminate between “driver” and “passenger” epigenetic events? PQ11. How do changes in RNA processing contribute to tumor development? PQ12. Given the recent discovery of the link between a polyomavirus and Merkel cell cancer, what other cancers are caused by novel infectious agents and what are the mechanisms of tumor induction?
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